Nine gram sewaks have committed suicide in past one year due to work stress Gram sewaks in Maharashtra have refused to give in to the high-handedness of the administration for the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) so that it can be projected as a success. Instead, they have decided to approach the high court to press for their demands like formation of a separate independent agency for the...

-Live Mint High on hype, the budget speech of the Union finance minister today is merely a statement of account. As India’s economy diversifies—with the private sector playing an increasingly important role—this annual feature has assumed much lower salience. Not only have fiscal policies lost the space they enjoyed in earlier years, even major policy announcements are restricted to being mere statements of account. Examples from other arenas include “activism” on...

-Express News Service Within days of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blaming foreign-funded NGOs for instigating anti-nuclear protests in Koodankulam, the government today booked four NGOs for alleged violation of the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA) and deported one German national for reportedly helping the protestors. Home Secretary R K Singh told reporters that the Bank Accounts of the four NGOs were frozen after it was found that they had been diverting money...

-The Times of India The Enforcement Directorate has issued notices to two former executives of the UBS Switzerland to appear for evidence recording at Mumbai in the Hassan Ali money laundering case. The former executives are believed to have helped the Pune-based businessman Ali in his money laundering allegedly estimated at more than $8 billion. The income Tax had also served Ali with notices in the same case for recovery of Rs...

India moved a step closer to implementing cash transfers of direct subsidies and social welfare payments after a high-level panel presented the blueprint for effecting it through an Aadhaar-based payment gateway. Accepting the report, which details how all payments and cash transfers can be made electronically, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated that it will be the key to plug leakages and ensure more targeted spending under the government’s social welfare programmes. The...